{{Short description|British theologian and academic}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2020}} {{Use British English|date=February 2020}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = The Reverend Canon | name = Dennis Nineham | office = Warden of Keble College, Oxford | term_start = 1969 | term_end = 1979 | predecessor = Austin Farrer | successor = Christopher Ball | order2 = | office2 = Regius Professor of Divinity <br /> University of Cambridge | term_start2 = 1964 | term_end2 = 1969 | predecessor2 = Edward Craddock Ratcliffe | successor2 = Geoffrey Hugo Lampe <!-- personal --> | birth_name = Dennis Eric Nineham | birth_date = {{Birth date|df=y|1921|9|27}} | birth_place = Southampton, England | death_date = {{Death date and age|df=y|2016|5|9|1921|9|27}} | death_place = Shipton-under-Wychwood, England | spouse = {{marriage|Ruth Miller|1946|2016|end = died}} | children = 4, including Chris | parents = <!-- overrides mother and father parameters --> | relatives = | education = King Edward VI School, Southampton | alma_mater = The Queen's College, Oxford <br /> Lincoln Theological College | occupation = | profession = Theologian, clergyman }} '''Dennis Eric Nineham''' (27 September 1921 – 9 May 2016) was a British theologian and academic, who served as Warden of Keble College, Oxford, from 1969 to 1979. He held chairs in theology at the universities of London, Cambridge, and Bristol.
==Early life and education== Nineham was born in Southampton on 27 September 1921.<ref name = Chapman>{{cite ODNB|title = Nineham, Dennis Eric (1921–2016), New Testament scholar and college head|doi = 10.1093/odnb/9780198614128.013.112068|date = 2020|last = Chapman|first = Mark D.|authorlink = Mark Chapman (theologian)}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=The International Who's Who 2004|year=2003|publisher=Europa Publications|isbn=1857432177|page=[https://archive.org/details/internationalwho2004ond/page/1225 1225]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/internationalwho2004ond/page/1225}}</ref> He was educated at King Edward VI School, then a grammar school.<ref name = Chapman/> He studied ''Literae Humaniores'' (classics) and theology at The Queen's College, Oxford.<ref name="obit - Tele">{{cite news|title=The Rev Prof Dennis Nineham, scholar – obituary|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2016/05/11/the-rev-prof-dennis-nineham-scholar--obituary/|accessdate=13 May 2016|work=The Daily Telegraph|date=11 May 2016}}</ref> He graduated from the University of Oxford with a first class honours Bachelor of Arts degree in 1943.<ref name="obit - Tele" /><ref name="Crockford entry">{{Crockford| surname = Nineham | forenames = Dennis Eric | id = 33999 | accessed = 13 May 2016}}</ref> He then entered Lincoln Theological College, an Anglican theological college, to undertake a year's training in preparation for the ordained ministry of the Church of England.<ref name="Crockford entry" />
==Career== ===Ordained ministry=== Nineham was ordained in the Church of England as a deacon in 1944 and as a priest in 1945.<ref name="Crockford entry" /> He then served as Assistant Chaplain at Queen's College, Oxford. In 1946, he was elected a fellow and appointed as the College Chaplain.
During his time at the University of Bristol, Nineham was an honorary canon of Bristol Cathedral.<ref name=Who/>
===Academic career=== He was appointed professor of Biblical and historical theology at King's College London in 1954, becoming professor of divinity at the University of London in 1958.<ref name = Chapman/> In 1964, he was appointed Regius Professor of Divinity at the University of Cambridge, a post held in conjunction with a fellowship at Emmanuel College. He returned to Oxford in 1969, as warden of Keble College, a post that he held until 1979; he was appointed to an honorary fellowship of Keble in the following year, and to an honorary fellowship of Queen's in 1991. Between 1980 and 1986, he was professor of theology and head of the theology department at the University of Bristol; he was also an honorary canon of Bristol Cathedral for this period.<ref name=Who/>
His publications include ''The Study of Divinity'' (1960), ''The Gospel of Saint Mark'' (1963), ''The Use and Abuse of the Bible'' (1976) and ''Christianity Mediaeval and Modern'' (1993). He edited various theological works, contributed to others,<ref name=Who>{{cite web|title=Nineham, Rev. Prof. Dennis Eric|work=Who's Who 2009|date= December 2008|publisher=Oxford University Press|url-access=subscription |url=http://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/article/oupww/whoswho/U29564|accessdate=20 October 2009}}</ref> including ''The Myth of God Incarnate'' (1977), and made a number of television appearances, including as part of the controversial Channel 4 series, ''Jesus: The Evidence'' in 1984.
==Family== Nineham married Ruth Corfield Miller in 1946. They had four children, including Chris Nineham, who went on to become a political activist and deputy leader of the Stop The War Coalition.<ref name = Chapman/><ref name="Kennedy">{{cite news|last=Kennedy|first=Dominic|url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/stop-the-war-chief-accued-of-hypocrisy-9tnxm7tsf|title=Stop the War chief accused of hypocrisy|work=The Times|date=15 October 2016|access-date=15 October 2016}} {{subscription required}}</ref>
Nineham died from complications of heart disease at a care home in Shipton-under-Wychwood, Oxfordshire, on 9 May 2016, at the age of 94, six weeks after his wife's death.<ref name = Chapman/><ref>[http://announcements.telegraph.co.uk/deaths/202584/nineham NINEHAM], [http://www.bristol.ac.uk/news/2016/june/dennis-nineham.html]</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
{{Authority control}} {{Wardens of Keble College, Oxford}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nineham, Dennis Eric}} Category:1921 births Category:2016 deaths Category:British theologians Category:20th-century English Anglican priests Category:Alumni of the Queen's College, Oxford Category:Fellows of the Queen's College, Oxford Category:Academics of King's College London Category:Academics of the University of London Category:Fellows of Emmanuel College, Cambridge Category:Regius Professors of Divinity (University of Cambridge) Category:Wardens of Keble College, Oxford Category:Academics of the University of Bristol Category:Academics of the University of Cambridge Category:People educated at King Edward VI School, Southampton Category:Writers from Southampton Category:20th-century Anglican theologians Category:21st-century Anglican theologians